Tales from the Hinterland: 2013/2014 edition

Air travel is amazing. In 24 hours I went from killing time at the beach bar in Cuba, waiting for the bus to the airport and thinking how fun those hills in the distance would be with some snow on them...



To touring in the back 40, getting in a few turns here and there, and seeing wolf tracks all over the place:



FYI, always recruit a cat-sitter who is a skier. They feed your feline and maintain the skin track. Thanks, TD!

Sick Bird Rider wrote

FYI, always recruit a cat-sitter who is a skier. They feed your feline and maintain the skin track. Thanks, TD!

Yer Welcome.   Sorry the skin track didn't lead to much... I was chicken shit to ski Secret or Bonk with that lingering lurking crust - at least without someone to dig me out.

BTW, glad the cat is alive.  The only indication I had was the empty food dish.  F$*€ing asshat that he is...


TD

Telemark Dave wrote

BTW, glad the cat is alive.  The only indication I had was the empty food dish...

Yes, yelled at me for six hours straight after I returned. Things are better now that his buddy the dog has returned.

Telemark Dave wrote

Yer Welcome.   Sorry the skin track didn't lead to much... I was chicken shit to ski Secret or Bonk with that lingering lurking crust - at least without someone to dig me out.

The crust seemed to have softened a bit by 3 pm. I did two cautious laps on Bonk Hill, resorting to stem teles and (gasp) parallel turns in a few spots. Then I exploited the awesomeness of the Chargers and found entertainment on some sun-baked low angle stuff in the meadows below.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

thinking how fun those hills in the distance would be with some snow on them...

I did the same with the 10,000 vertical feet at Haleakala in Maui. Figured out where the lifts would go and everything.

we need a TR from Cuba!!!

JasonWx wrote

we need a TR from Cuba!!!

I'm not a fan of tropical vacations, but Cuba has always interested me, so +1 for the TR request.

the forbidden land at least for us citizens ..

JasonWx wrote

the forbidden land at least for US citizens ..

This is a popular misconception among Americans. The truth is, you CAN visit Cuba, though it is a bit complicated.

If you book and pay for a resort vacation through a Canadian company (eg. Sunwing) and fly from Canada (say, Toronto or Montreal), you can go. They do not stamp your passport. The other catch is that you cannot bring anything purchased in Cuba back into the US, so drink your rum and smoke cigars while you are down there. There are also a few companies running trips from the US but they are highly structured tours that don't sound like much fun. If you want to chill on the beach, come with us.

SPAM: my wife is a travel agent and organizes group trips that are a little different from your average all-inclusive vacation. Check it out here if interested.

JasonWx wrote

we need a TR from Cuba!!!

I will do a TR on the "2014 Art/Baseball trip" once I sift through the 650 photos I took. Yikes.

And now for something completely different

If this was TGR I'd be posting this in the Gaper thread.  But this is the Hinterlands thread, and just to show that we appreciate anyone stoked on getting out on skis - even if a bit equipment challenged - i thought I'd share this few seconds captured while out for a skate ski at our Nordic Centre.



TD.

That is unbelievable. You really should post that in the gaper thread. At least now I won't feel so bad touring our micro-hills in my four-buckle tele boots.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

That is unbelievable. You really should post that in the gaper thread. At least now I won't feel so bad touring our micro-hills in my four-buckle tele boots.

You can imagine my excitement when the Gaper in question first made his appearance !!!  Made my day!

The winter that just keeps giving!  3" this AM and still snowing!




TD

There is still a LOT of snow up here. Endless winter. From yesterday, and there is more snow today (see above):



TD and I went out to check snow quality. Still very strange, unconsolidated, requiring vary careful descending. After one downhill run, we decided to go for a tour an save the hills for the inevitable corn cycle to come. We did enjoy some tree skiing on the horizontal plane:



Chargers everywhere!

The snow-depth-o-meter is starting to go down. But check out the picnic table!

In a previous TFTH post, I mentioned that the quantity of snow we have up here was an embarrassment of riches. I will add to that statement the corollary: karma is a bitch. Right now, the snow out the back door, and all through the local backcountry, is the consistency of partially set cement and not much fun to break trail through. While some may argue that "all snow is skiable," not all snow is worth skiing in.


Doubling back though the sludge to change the plan.

My suspicions were aroused when I observed that our 28 pound dog was postholing when I let him out to chase a squirrel. How bad could it be I thought, I have big wide skis? After a five-minute tour around the yard on the Chargers, I went back in the house, changed into the old leather lace-ups, grabbed the trusty old Catamounts and walked down our road to a local singletrack snowmobile trail. The sensible skier would have done this right away.


The dog was stoked, because he got to go on this outing.

So what we ended up doing was a very pleasant little tour through the forest, enjoying some kick and glide on a nicely undulating trail. It is good to forego the heavy gear once and a while, get back to basics and just go for a ski.


There were some signs of spring: remnants of the r&*n the other day.


And sap buckets as far as the eye could see.


But no drips today.

So, knowing that video is the new thing on the Interwebz, I made another attempt to create moving picture content. Get ready for 13 seconds of white knuckle action. During this hair-raising XC ski descent, the dog decides to stop and pee. Then I took my finger off the record button.

OMG! I am slipping. Forgot to photograph the snow-depth-o-meter chairs today. Well, it suffices to say that Blue Toes and I have been sitting in them over the last few days, enjoying afternoon cocktails in the spring sun. The snow is going fast, though much remains.

Like many ski hills, our local bump is closed but the base is deep. Around here, this means that it is time for the annual Tour de Valley. With today's tour organized on very short notice, and several of the usual suspects gone AWOL, it was just TD and I meeting up at the Secret Parking Spot.

Conveniently, the bump operator had left us a ski rack:


We used no skins today. The Charger BCs proved their worth on the up:


And the down (with no "down time" due to skins):


It was really tough fighting our way through the spring crowds:


We even suffered the indignity of having to ski up where we skied down:


And fended off wild beasts, like corn snow spiders:


And snow snakes:


Given the base depth, I am pretty confident that there will be a part two. Stay tuned!

Enough already ... 5" and still snowing!


TD

The above-noted fresh snow, combined with some rain and warm-but-not-too-warm temps, refreshed the surfaces of the Hinterlandian corn fields to the point where we could not ignore it. Today was the weather window, so the call was made for a second Tour de Valley. Today, we were joined (albeit a bit late) by a new recruit, the jovial backwoods explorer Jeff LeChef. Jeff had some excitement whitewater canoeing yesterday, so skiing probably seemed like a tamer option for today.

There was some snow loss on the access trail. The man-made doesn't reach this far:


This was no obstacle to the all-terrain Charger BCs:


No TR from Hidden Bump is complete without the lake view. The ice is finally showing some signs of letting go:


The serious corn harvesting begins:


First pass of the corn harvesters:


After a refreshment break, there was a whole lot of tele-fiddling to do:


This corn field was starting to look a little messy, so we moved on:


And up we went, for the last down. Will there be a Part Three? We shall see:

Slarvemarks  all over the hill.

TD